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Sunday, March 24, 2013

After exploring non-fiction books, we decided to compare fiction and non-fiction books to see what was they same and what was different about these types of books.
Take a peek at us comparing the books and at our Venn Diagram that explains our findings.

Over the last two weeks we have explored non-fiction texts. We talked about the text features that non-fiction books have and what the purpose is for having the text features.
After exploring the books each child chose a non-fiction animal book to read and read it jotting down questions they had as they were reading. After jotting down their questions, they decided what was their "burning question" they wanted to find the answer to. They used their IPad to create a Pic Collage of their animal and their "burning question". When they had that completed, they used the book or other resources to find the answer to their question. They recorded their answer and sited their source. Take a peek at our non-fiction journey.

Then they shared their findings with their friends.

Then I hung them in the hall for our other OLE friends and teachers to see.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Our first graders learned about lines, shapes, patterns and texture during an art lesson this week. They were able to see some great art pieces that showed different textures and lines and how that changed your perception. The students were asked to draw a creature of their choice. They were challenged to use a variety of shapes, lines, patterns and textures. Look at the amazing creatures!

Our first graders learned about goods and services last week. The lesson started with the question, "Why do people work?" The students brainstormed in pairs and every pair came up with the same main reason: MONEY! We talked about why we need money and what our families' spend their money on. We made an idea web. Then I told them that all of these ideas can fit into 2 categories: goods or services. After writing the words goods and services on the board, I labeled some of the items on the idea web with a "g" for goods or an "s" for services. I asked the students to predict what a good was based off of which items were labeled with the "g". We did the same thing for services. Here is our idea web.....

Next, I showed them a Venn Diagram. I had families send in coupons and hand picked which ones would work best for this lesson. I game each student a coupon and asked them to figure out what the coupon was for, if it was a good or service and why. Each student had a chance to explain and/or defend where their coupon should be taped on the Venn Diagram. The students discovered that some things could be a combination of a good and a service such as restaurant food since the restaurant provides the food (a good) and the service to your table (a service). This was a great assessment tool!

Finally, the students pulled out the community maps they had created the day before when we discussed community changes. They had a chance to tell one location they put on their map and what you could purchase there (of course I made them state if their purchase was a good or service). They did awesome!

Here are some examples of the community maps they created!

The next day, the students created posters to show me if they understood the difference between goods and services and some examples of each. Here are a few examples.....

We had teams of students work together to complete 100 piece puzzles. It was fun to watch and see who took on the leadership roles in the different groups. It wasn't easy to solve a puzzle with 4-6 people working together (there was a lot of delegating sections), but all teams were successful and had fun completing the puzzles together.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Today we enjoyed Pete the Cat- Play Balland Pete the Cat-Pete's Big Lunch to work on our comparing two texts strategy. We talked about what happened in each by using our strategy of Check for Understanding (being able to tell the who and what) after hearing the stories. Then we got into pairs and filled in the cute Venn Diagram given to us by the sweet Jennifer White at First Grade Blue Skies. Thanks again Jennifer for putting this together for us. After creating our Venn Diagrams in pairs we shared them on the Apple TV and explained our comparisons to the class. I put under each picture what was shared during that time.

Take a peek below...

PB:His team got a home run. His friends came over for a big baseball tournament.

Same: They are cats, They are both blue.

PBL: He made a big lunch. After they had lunch they were all full.

PB: He tried his best and he did not care when he got the ball.

Same: They are both blue cats. They tried their best.

PBL: He and his friends ate sandwiches.

PB: He is bad at ball. He tries his best.

Same: They have the same characters.

PBL: The lunch was too big. Pete shares.

PB: He is nice. He plays ball. The Rocks won. He cheers his team on.

Same: Both are Pete books. Pete tried his best in both books. Pete is nice in both books.

PBL: He shares his lunch. He makes his big lunch with lots of friends.

PB: Pete tries his best. Pete is on the red team.

Same: They are both cats. Pete shares in both.

PBL: He makes a big lunch. He gets bread.

A special thanks to firstgradeblueskies. :)

PB: Pete tries to hit the ball. It does not matter if he hits the ball.